Chapter Thirty-Nine

While Ladybug had been in complete sync with Chat Noir's movements, she faltered at his last comment. Good grief, how was a girl supposed to concentrate when he'd thrown that spanner in the works? To know that her partner, who was also her crush, was contemplating the idea of getting physical with her threatened to turn her brain to mush. So much for the golden good boy Agreste image. She decided to blame it on his wild side. It made her wonder which persona was truer to Adrien's character. Somehow, she suspected it was Chat Noir.

The cool breeze helped clear her head as they descended to the next building, again they leapt together in co-ordination. Springing up even higher as Chat used the vault of his baton to send them soaring. Glancing his way, she caught the wide smile on her partner's face as he watched her in return. She hadn't seen him this happy in a long time.

"Alya's place is that way," Ladybug told as they drew nearer.

Chat Noir adjusted the trajectory of his vaults as they closed in on their destination. They landed elegantly together and Ladybug knocked on the glass slider to Alya's bedroom. The budding reporter had been staring at her computer screen and nearly jumped out of her chair at the sound. A wide grin spread across her face as she noticed her visitors. "Ladybug! Chat Noir!"

The girl raced out with her arms open, surprise widened Ladybug's masked eyes as Alya launched herself at Chat Noir. "You're alive!" she shouted as she embraced him to the point that Chat looked like he was losing the ability to breathe again.

"Alya, not so tight," he rasped.

"Oh sorry," she said, immediately releasing her hold. "Everyone is so worried about you. Wait, can I film you for my blog? People need to know you're okay."

"That's why we're here." Chat replied as he rolled his shoulders and sucked in a deep breath.

"Come inside," she said with a wave of her hand. The superheroes wandered in and Alya closed the glass door behind them.

Given the small space there wasn't a lot of room to sit. Ladybug took a seat on Alya's bed and Chat Noir quickly sat beside her. While there was some space between them it was rather narrow and Chat's closest knee was leaning against hers. He cast her a sideways glance and she elbowed him when he winked. Neither noticed that Alya had her phone trained on them as she began filming.

"Hi people, it's Alya here with fantastic news. Chat Noir is in fact alive and well, as you can see." The pair turned their heads towards the budding reporter and waved. "So, can you explain to us what happened?"

Ladybug glanced at Chat Noir and he nodded for her to explain. "During the akuma fight against Revenger, Chat was almost choked to death. At the time I had gone for backup, so I wasn't able to help or prevent the situation."

A black gloved hand settled on her forearm. "There was no way Ladybug and I could have defeated that many minions on our own. What she did was the right move. I stayed to protect civilians, unfortunately my best wasn't enough on this occasion."

"When I returned with Rena Rouge I discovered how dire Chat's situation was. By then he was unconscious. When he fell…" she bit her lip trying to hold back the tears that threatened to spill.

"I apparently had the grace of a tumbling rock." Chat Noir shrugged, "Probably because I have a hard head," he smirked as he knocked a fist against the top of his skull.

Ladybug let out a brittle laugh, glad that he was trying to make light of the situation, even though it had been grim. "It made him hard to catch."

"But you got me in the end," Chat grinned without any pretence of hiding his adoration.

"Yes, I did." She beamed in return, getting caught in gaze. It was only when Alya cleared her throat that she realised they'd probably been staring at each other a little too long. "Anyway, I was shocked when he didn't wake up after Miraculous Ladybug. Thankfully once I got him somewhere safe he came to."

Alya leant forward in her seat smirking as she asked, "Did you wake him with a kiss?"

"No, just some thorough shaking and shouting."

A Cheshire grin spread across Chat's face. "She did kiss me later though," he winked as he nudged Ladybug's arm with his own.

Heat filled her cheeks. "Shut up, kitty."

Both he and Alya laughed. "Wow, does this mean you're actually a couple now?"

Chat Noir was nodding like a maniac as Ladybug eyed him sideways. Suddenly, his arm snaked around her shoulders and he snuggled in to rest the side of his head against hers. "Definitely. Hear that France, Ladybug is officially my lady. So there," he said as he stuck out his tongue with a cheeky smirk.

The heroine placed a gloved hand over her face, letting it slide down to expose her smile. "See what I have to put up with," she said to Alya.

Chat Noir turned his head to nuzzle her cheek. "You love me," he preened as he pressed a kiss just below her mask.

Alya barely repressed a squeal as she spun the camera on herself. "You heard it here people, Ladybug and Chat Noir are officially LadyNoir!" The camera swivelled back to the duo.

"We have a couple name, already?" Ladybug asked in astonishment.

"We've had it for years, bugaboo."

"Really?"

The budding reporter was almost bouncing out of her seat. "Fans have been shipping the pair of you forever. I have no doubt there will be fireworks in the skies before we know it."

Smooth as always, Chat Noir added, "There's fireworks for me every time we kiss."

Ladybug's pulse quickened, although she tried to fob it off as one of his usual quips. However, the expression on her face clearly gave away her true feelings despite her elbow to his ribs. As she opened her mouth to comment, Chat Noir cut her off with a fiery kiss, silencing any further remarks.

Alya let out a whoop, startling the pair who broke away from each other. Both impulsively reached for their weapons then relaxed. Ladybug looked to her partner who appeared thoroughly satisfied with himself. "Fireworks," he grinned.

"Fireworks," she confirmed.

Ladybug knew it was time to leave when Chat Noir failed to stifle another yawn. After the kiss, Alya had peppered them with questions at the rate of a machine gun. The pair had done their best to answer the overly excited girl but given the late hour, they were both exhausted.

Giving a farewell wave to Alya, the duo made a hasty exit. Chat rubbed at his eyes as he vaulted between buildings. "Why does tomorrow have to be Monday?" he grumbled.

"Because Hawkmoth is awfully inconsiderate of our schedules." Ladybug answered as she swung in tandem beside him with her yoyo.

"If I fall asleep at school, can you poke me in the back with a ruler or something? I don't want to test the drool resistance of my tablet, I suspect it will fail epically." Chat yawned.

"Alright, I can do that as long as you don't snap at me if I poke you too much."

Chat Noir returned her smirk. "I'll consider it a test of my manliness. To whine would be to concede."

Ladybug chuckled at his theatrics. "I'll remember that. Now then, do you want me to help you home? You look like you're about to doze off mid leap."

"Please do, I'm starting to go cross-eyed I'm so tired."

The smirk widened on Ladybug's face as she slowed her pace temporarily, dropping behind Chat Noir so that her next swing would shoot passed him. In doing so, she opened her left arm out to scoop him up against her. Chat retracted his baton back to its normal size and wrapped his arms around her. "Thanks, LB."

As they reached his bedroom window at the Agreste mansion, Chat Noir's head was resting on Ladybug's shoulder. "We're here," she said quietly when they landed upon the window sill. Chat lifted his head and shook it in attempt to raise his sinking eyelids.

"Just drop me on the bed, I'm too tired to bother showering."

Ladybug half carried, half dragged her partner across the room to lay him upon his bed. As soon as his blonde head hit the pillow he was out. The heroine giggled as she noticed that his legs were still hanging over the side of the bed. Carefully, she grabbed his ankles and laid them on the mattress. It was then that she realised he hadn't returned to being Adrien.

"Chat," she whispered as she shook his shoulder. "You need to transform back."

The black clad hero's response was a light snore. Ladybug covered the lower part of her face with a gloved hand as she snorted back a laugh. Clearly her partner was wrecked. Flicking open her yoyo, Ladybug checked the time to see it was after 11pm. Glancing at her partner, she made a quick decision, set her alarm for the early hours of dawn then walked to the other side of the bed. With a tender smile at Chat Noir, she lay down beside him and quickly drifted off.

Shrill buzzing awoke Ladybug with a start. She would have sat upright but there was an arm draped across her shoulders below her chin and a leg twisted over hers preventing her from moving. Luckily her one free arm was able to reach her yoyo to turn off the alarm. Chat Noir nuzzled his face against her neck and murmured some endearment she didn't quite catch. Then his lips nibbled their way up to her jaw and she caught a snippet of what he was saying, "… you smell amazing. Let me love you…"

Her eyes shot wide open and she grabbed his arm and gave it a shake. "Wake up, Chat."

The warmth of his tongue ran along the edge of her earlobe. "Hmm, I'm awake," he rumbled.

"You do realise that you're still Chat Noir and you need to transform back."

"Huh?" he asked and she heard the creak of leather and he sat up to look at his arms. "Oh crap," he hissed, "Claws in."

A flash of magic reverted the blonde to being Adrien. Plagg threw him a filthy look. "About time, I'm starving!"

"Go raid your stash," the model grumbled and Plagg zipped away.

Since he was mostly awake and back to being Adrien, Ladybug decided it was time she got home. Just as she sat up, Adrien threw her a panicked look. "Someone's coming!" he rasped. Before Ladybug could think, he pushed her down, laid on top of her and pulled the blanket high.

Knowing that he was trying to hide her, Ladybug pulled the blanket tight to hide the flash of her transformation and morphed back into Marinette. If they were about to be caught, there was no way she'd be found as her alter ego, especially since Chat Noir had declared them a couple. Tikki slipped into her jacket pocket the moment the light died away.

"Adrien," boomed the voice of his father. "What's going on? I heard an alarm. It's four in the morning."

"I, um, set the time wrong."

"I see." There was something calculating in Gabriel's tone. Suddenly the blanket was yanked off the bed. Marinette was both relieved in her decision to transform back and mortified at being caught. "Do we need to rehash the safe sex discussion?"

Even in the barely lit room, Marinette could see how red Adrien's face was. She had no doubt hers was just as flushed. The model rolled off her and rubbed at his neck sheepishly. "I didn't think you'd approve of a girl in my room. I was just trying to hide her, I swear nothing like that happened."

Grey eyes assessed them coolly. "Why is she here, Adrien?"

"Marinette got caught up in the panic after Revenger. I said she could stay with me until things settled down."

Gabriel's eyebrows raised as he took further notice of his son's companion. "Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Ah, I understand." He said with a knowing smile. Good grief he was probably remembering back to the time when she'd returned the book to him and claimed she was an avid fangirl of the model. "Adrien, why don't you sleep on your lounge for what's left of the night. We can drop Miss Dupain-Cheng home at a more reasonable hour."

"Yes, Father." He answered as he shot off the bed and retreated to the opposite side of the room.

As soon as Gabriel's footsteps faded away, Adrien returned to Marinette. "Sorry, I had no idea you'd stay with me."

"I didn't think it wise to leave you sleeping as Chat Noir. I mean what if your Dad walked in and discovered you? It had disaster written all over it."

Adrien toyed with his ring before rubbing his nape. "Instead he walked in and thought I'd smuggled a girl into my room for the night."

"While it's embarrassing, it's probably the lesser of the two outcomes." Marinette admitted. "Besides, my parents thought I was here anyway. I guess it just confirms my alibi."

A slow grin spread across the model's face. "Well then, I guess you have to stay now. But I should probably sleep over there," he said with lift of his chin towards the lounge. "Although, I'm awake now."

"You were griping earlier about your impending coma in class. I won't be able to poke you awake with a ruler if I'm asleep too."

"Good point, so move over. I need to cuddle my lovebug," he smirked and she couldn't stop herself from grinning back.

"You rebel."

"Maybe, but I prefer to think of myself as yours."

Thank you for your words of encouragement everyone, I've been inspired and may have more chapters left to write than I initially thought. Apologies for any typos, it's late and although I proofed it twice I probably missed something.

With the morning looming, what new challenges will our couple face? What do you hope to see? Let me know in the box below. :)